Contents

Rules

LP can be gained through the effects of some cards, such as "Solemn Wishes".

LP can be lost by any of the following methods:

Damage: Whenever a player takes damage, they lose LP equal to the amount of damage dealt. There are two main forms of damage:

Battle damage: When monsters battle, their stats are compared. If the monster is in Attack Position, their ATK value is used; if the monster is in Defense Position, their DEF value is used. If the player's monster is in Attack Position and its value is lower, the player takes damage equal to the difference. If the player's monster is in Defense Position, the player does not take any damage, unless the opponent's monster has an effect to inflict piercing battle damage. A monster can also attack a player directly; in that case, the attacking monster's full ATK value is inflicted as damage to the player.

Cost: Several cards, such as "Seven Tools of the Bandit," require the player to pay LP in order to activate them. This is not considered to be effect damage as the card text does not use the word "damage".

Losing LP: A few cards, such as "Message in a Bottle" and "Soul Charge", directly state that a player "loses LP". This is neither paying LP as a cost nor taking any damage. Effects like these are usually drawbacks to otherwise powerful effects to prevent allowing the use of cards that skip costs ("Spell Economics") or prevent damage ("Rainbow Life") to avoid the drawback.

If a player's LP would drop below 0, they become 0 rather than a negative figure.

Other games

In manga and anime, in the Duel Monsters Basic rules, players play with 2000 LP. These rules are used prior to the Battle City tournament. In all other forms of Duel Monsters, in the manga and anime, players start with 4000 LP.

Some video games allow players to set the number of LP they begin with, in some cases up to 16000.